1032. This is a foul.
Rem and Saxen were, of course, sincere about finding their captain. They were prepared to do whatever was necessary.
Sinar envisioned an even bleaker future. She was determined to find another way even if she missed him here. After all, she had never learned to give up.
Yongin went a step further. He bound his duty to Encred. If he could not see Encred achieve his dream, he intended to return to being a single flower and end his identity as Yongin.
In the eyes of others, that would be no different from death.
They all looked at Esther.
“Show me the witch’s soul.”
Rem speaks.
You can say whatever you need.
Saxen spoke.
The sincerity in the assassin’s words was chilling. He seemed ready to set off immediately if ordered to bring back blood if needed, or to cut off the head of a demon.
Esther had nothing to ask of them for help. She simply hoped that their expectations would not be shattered.
Should I pray to God?
If he were to die, what regrets would remain?
A soot greater than Sinar’s would be left in my heart. Suddenly, I realized that I rarely spoke the words I wanted to say.
I cherished you.
I rooted for your dreams, and I loved feeling your warmth in your arms. Once all of this was over, a life of simply tending to flowers by your side wouldn’t have been so bad. Though I probably would have spent more time researching magic than raising flowers. Even
if the world split in two, the sun never rose again, and demons pursued their own interests causing the continent to burn fiercely, I still wanted to be by your side.
Esther felt even more heartbroken because she couldn’t express those feelings at all.
Couldn’t she have expressed and spoken a little more directly?
The engaged person endures.
Sinar spoke. He said this because he understood the fairy’s sensitivity as well as her heart for one person.
“You will know. Answer that you know, witch. So you will find it.”
Apart from fulfilling their expectations, it was something she also earnestly desired.
Although the sorcerer did not believe in gods, Esther prayed. She sought out a goddess who cherished Encred.
O you who governs luck and destiny, did you not cherish that man, too?
There is no answer to prayer. Esther endured and waited. Forgetting the passage of time, she wandered in search of something shining alone and differently among the stars.
She never once took her eyes off it and did not waver in the slightest. That is why her wish was rewarded.
Oh Goddess.
A star of the sunset rose. In that twinkling, Esther sensed Encred. It was purely a feeling, but it was the last straw.
Shouting “Prepare,” she immediately connected her spell world with the place where she had seen the light. Just as Encred vanished, she recited a spell that had been newly created and modified.
Weave rings to connect you and me.
The spell was named Duomundra. The incantation was still crude. Nevertheless, the magical power worked properly, and the spell was cast correctly.
Make sure to bring him.
Before leaving, the king said.
Wait.
Rem answered and jumped in first. A horizontal line stretched across the air, opening up a space filled only with pitch-black darkness. The way the space was torn looked as if someone had ripped a tent with their hands.
Esther opened a small door in her spell world and turned it into a passageway to another dimension. Using it, she led everyone across the space toward another world.
At first, it was nothing but pitch-black darkness. It felt shorter than half a day, but it was too long to be called a mere moment. Still, no one grumbled.
Just before emerging from the pitch-black passageway, heat was felt first, and in the distance, accompanied by a light, a hole appeared—unlike before—spreading out to the left and right, starting with a straight line. It was a hole large enough for two Rems to pass through simultaneously.
Just before exiting there, Temares performed a trick. To be precise, he awakened memories of the past and, through a verbal spell, conveyed a portion of the knowledge that had surfaced in his mind to everyone. It
was a spell called ‘Enkio,’ one of the spells used exclusively by dragons, much like Epimov.
“Beyond that place lives an immortal phoenix. The right goal should be to escape, not to fight it.”
It conveys the mental imagery that comes to mind along with the words, and also indicates what is being dealt with.
So you’re saying he’s a guy like Shinjang.
Rem murmured. The Guardian of Sorcery is a concept symbolizing magical power, not an actual being. The Phoenix was the same.
I understood.
Saxon muttered.
It was after everyone had passed through the hole, each uttering a word.
To be precise, it was right after Esther had uttered the words “My Enki.” It was a dangerous moment that required immediate action. They, too, were now half physical and half spiritual, and even if they survived the Phoenix here, they would lose their way out if the matter dragged on any longer.
Then, it would no longer be an escape from Enkrid, but a prison sentence in another dimension for everyone.
And yet, it was a moment they could not bear.
“If I leave here, I will be married. My Enki.”
Sinar repeated the same words by adding words.
“……My girlfriend is Yenatrice.”
Saxony muttered. He respected Esther for opening the door this far. It was a remark he added to lighten her embarrassment.
“I have come to take you. Enki of another.”
Rem said, giggling.
Here is your dragon, too.
Temares interrupted.
While he was speaking, flames poured down from above. As the rain of fire grew thicker, it looked like countless fire arrows raining down.
With Enkrid at the center, Rem stood in front, Saxen on the left, and Sinar on the right, all wielding their weapons.
Axes, daggers, and Nyes accurately defended their respective areas, deflecting, bouncing, and shattering every single fire arrow. It was as if a barrier created by a spell had formed.
In the meantime, Temares swung his sword widely, pushing away a ball of fire rushing from the side.
Bang!
The flaming rock that had rolled to one side exploded, creating a storm. It was a wind strong enough to lift an ordinary person’s feet off the ground.
A fist-sized spark flew towards my back, but it was blocked by an invisible shield and bounced away.
De Muller’s Wind Barrier.
Esther muttered the trigger word one after another, blocking the flames raging from all directions, and spoke.
“Buy some time.”
“Right, I must save your Enki.”
Although Rem could not quite manage a smile, he continued to tease the other until the end, gripping his axe and leaping forward. The Phoenix was just about to lift its foot and slam it into the ground. Rem’s body, now a gray mass, appeared to have doubled in size. It
hadn’t actually grown larger; it was just momentarily appearing bigger because he had unleashed his magical power through Descent and Spirit Manifestation.
He swung his axe and split the bird’s foreleg in half.
pop!
An explosion occurred, engulfing Rem’s body in white flames. Instead of dodging, he held his breath and swung his axe as if spinning in place.
His cloak clung tightly to his back, and soon a whirlwind formed, gathering the flames and blowing them to one side.
What are you going to play?
Rem muttered.
Who is the question for? It is directed at the insidious wildcat. Saxony has killed many monsters as well as humans. Though he does not think that he can do anything about the flames themselves.
He picked up two clay daggers from his bosom and threw them. Bursting in the air, the clay daggers created waves of earth that engulfed the flames.
It did not completely extinguish the fire, but the Phoenix’s will faltered. Taking advantage of that moment, Sinar spread his hands and summoned his friend.
Stop your friend.
She whispered. The fire lizard residing in the Fountain of Spirits inside the fairy city of Kirhais responded to her request.
Apart from the heat spewed by the firebird in the air, bright yellow flames flared up, soon turning red and transforming into the form of a lizard.
“Behold, my Enki. There our child has come to save us.”
Sinar never loses his sense of humor even in a moment like this. This is what madness is. Enkrid laughed while slumped on the ground.
Is that funny?
A question from the boatman flew in from within. The three boatmen had vanished cleanly from the surroundings before I knew it.
The fire lizard summoned by Sinar had grown larger than the firebird. It then rammed its head directly into the bird’s head.
bang.
“That’s right. You take after your father and are quick-witted.”
That’s true, but I meant it literally rather than idiomatically. After all, he did use his head to charge in.
“Ura, ura, ura, ura, ura, ura, ura!”
Rem, wielding a throwing axe in his left and his own descending axe in his right, charged forward, cleaving through flames in all directions, tearing apart and driving back the fire giants and beasts.
Even while the salamanders charged, the Firebird summoned and sent forth fire giants and fire beasts.
Rem struck them down one by one, extinguishing them into a single streak of flame. Saxen, having somehow found a sword, brought it back and threw it to Encred.
He then engaged the approaching small Firebird as well. Drawing two short swords, he thrust and slashed the flying birds.
His swordsmanship appeared slow due to his restrained movements. He moved only as much as necessary and extended his sword only as much as needed. Although
Rem appeared rough and aggressive, he drew the opponent’s attention to an unnecessarily large degree, driven by his determination to single-handedly block the front. It was a tactic he performed because he clearly understood his role.
There is still a lot to learn.
Encred thought so. He was out of breath. Apart from Will, his body had reached its limit.
After summoning the salamanders, Sinar transformed the Nye into needle-like forms and, using only stabbing and pulling motions, created over a hundred holes in the torso of the fiery quadruped beast.
Then, upon seeing the creature—which was vastly larger than Audin—raise its forepaws like a bear, he shot up like an arrow in an instant, pierced its head, and descended as if floating.
The way you handle the cloak is something.
Although he himself had become proficient by repeating today, Sinar goes beyond mere proficiency, handling the cloak like another organ of his body. This is because he uses it continuously through his vital energy.
Seeing this, Encred recalled a method of maintaining it by continuously filling the cloak with Will, rather than pouring Will in for a single moment.
Let’s just say it’s about how a knight handles tools.
It is a new concept and something that every knight must learn.
It is a method of utilizing weaponry that does not necessarily have to be applied only to engraved weapons.
“If we don’t protect the witch, we’ll all be imprisoned. But you.”
Temares approached. Yongin’s gaze was indeed special. He could see even better, especially since he was in a spiritual form.
To Temares’s eyes, the change in Will possessed by Encred was more apparent than the pitch-blackened arm and severe burns on his cheek.
“You’ve changed.”
“People always change.”
Encred spouted random words and rose, using today as his cane. He was not dead, and although exhausted, he had not collapsed.
In that case, he would simply do what he had to do.
“Hold on, all of you, Mad Knights.”
He said as if muttering.
“I knew it!”
Rem shouted from afar.
“I am doing it!”
Saxony completes it.
“i get it!”
Sinar also answers.
“Temares, Esther’s succession is yours.”
“Put your worries aside, Captain.”
Temares naturally called him Captain.
Encred watched the wave of fire rushing toward him. It was a wave of flames created by the angry firebird stomping its foot.
It raced toward Encred like a runaway carriage.
I’ll take this side.
Encred spoke to everyone.
Today shines once again. The sunset light he harbored transferred to his entire body, making it glow, and an orange blade stretched out.
The movement was a downward strike, one of the basics of swordsmanship, and the extended blade split and destroyed the flames. That is how they endure.
“preparation.”
Esther spat out the exact same words she had spoken when she came here. It was a repetition once again. Esther opened the door. It was the path leading to the original world.
This is a foul.
Encred heard the boatman’s hallucination and answered inwardly.
It’s not cheating. Their intervention is proof of the life I’ve lived.
None of them, including Esther, would have given up. These were
the words Jitte told them just before the transformation of purity. “Show the light, and the witch will find you.”
Jitte spent a long time surveying her surroundings, pondering, and agonizing. It was the words that emerged at the end of it all. Although she only believed them halfway, that faith was rewarded.
“Wow, trying to argue with a guy who’s good with words is no joke. You and I are going to have a proper showdown sometime.”
Primahild continued to be angry to the very end, but contrary to her words, she didn’t sound like she was truly furious.
Encred’s vision blurred. Both her mind and body had reached their limit. Someone supported her body. Placing a hand on her chest, they pulled her body toward them.
It is my turn to give a hug.
Esther muttered and threw herself towards the torn space.
